1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image bearing medium display devices, and in particular, to expandable display device and a card holder suitable for use in the expandable display device for displaying and protecting card-like objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Collecting and trading image bearing memorabilia such as baseball, football, hockey cards, and the like, has long been and continues to be a popular hobby. As a result, old, rare, and unusual cards have become particularly valuable and the business of collecting and trading such cards has grown. Therefore, there is a need for a device capable of protecting the sports cards while also displaying them in an aesthetically pleasing fashion so that collectors can, for example, display their cards at home and traders can display their cards at card-trading shows and conventions. Furthermore, it is important that the sports card display system permit the interchanging of cards within the display system. Also, it is important that the display system be capable of accommodating a varying number of cards so that a collector can display cards added to his collection and/or tailor the displays to best present the cards to potential customers.
In one display system the individual cards are placed in pockets formed in a soft sheet of plastic. These sheets of plastic can then displayed on a binder or laid out on a flat surface, such as a table, at a card-trading exhibition. Such display systems, however, may not adequately protect the cards from bending and may not enable cards to be handled individually. Also, the plastic folders are not well suited to display cards on a vertical wall.
In another display system typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,691; 5,010,673; 5,097,953; and 5,133,450, each card is individually placed within a rigid plastic holder formed from two transparent halves. It can be difficult, however, to maintain the two halves of the card holder together while keeping the card holder relatively small, lightweight, easy to handle, and aesthetically pleasing, without distracting the observer from the card within the holder or obstructing the view of the card. To display a number of such holders, the holders are typically laid on a flat surface, such as a table, in a side-by-side fashion. This arrangement, however, may not be especially aesthetically pleasing so as to attract potential customers. Also, it can be difficult and ungainly to display a number of such holders on, for example, a vertical wall, and the individual card holders can be easily be lost or stolen. Furthermore, when a solid card holder is laid on a flat surface, it can be difficult to remove the holder from the surface. This is an important consideration to traders who want potential customers to be able to handle each card and the card holder individually with ease.
In another display system, taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,122, a plurality of panels are provided and can be arranged into a three-dimensional display. Each card is placed in a holder, as just discussed above. The holder is then positioned between pegs extending from the panel surface and secured thereto by caps placed over the pegs. This display system enables a number of card holders to be displayed in a group, but it may not provide an optimum presentation of the cards and may not adequately protect the cards from damage. Two panels can be perpendicularly mounted together to form three dimensional arrangements by inserting a tab, projecting in the plane of a panel, in a slot provided in the surface of another panel. However, it is not possible to use this tab and slot arrangement to secure two panels together in a side-by-side relation for increasing the display area in two dimensions.